Thursday, October 29, 2009

196(9) At A Time - Page 53

Another pretty nice looking page, with only one hatless player to mess things up.#464 - Dave Marshall Hitting .264 in 76 games was good enough to make the Topps All Star Rookie team. The Giants were hoping that in his first full season in the bigs, Marshall would blossom. Well, he didn't. Playing in 110 games, the most he would ever play, Marshall hit only .232 with 2 homers and 33 RBI's. He was sent to the Mets in December, 1969#465 - Tommy John It's a nice pose, but look in Tommy's mitt. Oops! That kinda ruins the allusion, doesn't it. Before he was know as a surgery, Tommy John was a pitcher for the White Sox, and a pretty decent one. In the year of the pitcher, John was 10-5 with a 1.98 ERA. He fell off in 1969 to 9-11, but that was for a really bad Sox team.

Something else you may notice about the card is, that while the uniform is very similar to what the Sox wear today, the logo on the hat is not. The letters are a more basic font than the Old English script on today's hat.#466 - John Boccabella He is most know for not his playing, but how the PA announcer at Jarry Park said his name. It was "John Bocc --a --belllllllllll-a", really letting each syllable have it. His playing style never matched the style of the PA call; he hit .105 in 1969 as a back-up catcher.

Boccabella was originally a Cub, being signed as a bonus baby. He was one of many players touted by Leo Durocher to replace an aging Ernie Banks. But a .223 average over parts of six seasons earn you the title "Mr. Dud" not "Mr. Cub." and get you exposed in the expansion draft.#467 - Tom Reynolds This card's picture was taken in the spring of '69, when Reynolds was reacquired by the A's from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft. In his first go-around with the KC A's he hit .219 over three seasons. He did better with his second chance in 1969, hitting .254 in 107 games.#468 - Pirates Rookies Both players featured on this card has decent careers. Dal Canton went 8-2 for the Bucs in 1969 and would pitch for a total of four different teams until 1977. Robertson didn't really make it to the majors until 1970 when he played in 117 games and smacked 27 home runs. He played in the bigs until 1979.#469 - Chico Ruiz This is another of the Reds cards shot at Wrigley Field. When I am all finished with the set, I'll have to have a post with all of the Reds at Wrigley cards shown together. Ruiz was the Red's "play anywhere but not hit much" guy. In 1969 he appeared in games at each of the four infield positions, plus a little outfield. After finishing his sixth season in Cincinnati, the Reds dealt him to the Angels.#470 - Mel Stottlemyreb The aces of the Yankees staff has his game face on. He won 21 games in 1968 and followed it up with another 20 in 1969. After that, he was a .500 pitcher and finished after 1974.#471 - Ted Savage He was a well-traveled outfielder who played for eight teams in nine seasons. If I had to guess the jersey he's got on, I'd say its the Pirates, a team he played for in 1963. The Cubs were among Ted's many stops, playing for the North Siders in parts of 1967 and 1968. When the Cubs traded him to the Dodgers in 1968, they got Jim Hickman and Phil Regan in return, a pretty lopsided deal for the Cubs. The Dodgers sent him to the Reds in spring training, so I wondering why Topps didn't change the team on the card to the Reds. After all, just a few cards ago we had some spring training shots featured.#472 - Jim Price He spent five seasons as a back up to the Tiger's All Star catcher Bill Freehan. In 1969 he played in 72 games and hit .234 with 9 home runs. Those are OK numbers for a back up.Overall Set Totals (player cards only)Hall of Famers - 30Hatless - 107Airbrush - 90Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 63

About Me

I am a life-long Cubs fan currently in exile in southern Michigan. I have been collecting baseball cards since the fateful Cubs year of 1969. I took a 15 year break from the hobby and returned in 2008.